Plenty of ink has been spilled about the aforementioned players in the beer world, but today’s challenge is predicting what will be the next wave of breweries to bust out in the 2017 calendar year and start driving chatter outside of their home markets. You know, those breweries that will soon have out-of-towners begging locals, “Couldja’ throw some ________ cans in a box and FedEx ‘em to me?!”

Most of the breweries I’m forecasting break-out status for in the next 365 days tap into the current zeitgest of the beer world. No surprise, but in many cases that means Northeast-style IPAs—and the juicier the better. (The word “Juice” is often even in their name.) But these breweries aren't simply parroting trends and playing copycat. There is also plenty of interesting barrel aging and yeast experimentation going on amongst this crop. Of course, simply cramming unique fruits and culinary adjuncts into a beer is always a good way to garner appreciation from fans.

These new breweries—all opened within the last, oh, 18 months—aren’t national names yet, but may very well be by the time Mariah Carey is flubbing her lines at New Year’s Rockin’ Eve 2018.

Here are 10 breweries primed to breakout in 2017.

American Solera

Image via Facebook/American Solera

Location: Tulsa, OKOpened: 2016Specialty: Wood-aged beers

It feels like a bit of a cheat to include American Solera here, as the brewery is simply the side project of Chase Healey’s much-ballyhooed Prairie Artisan Ales. Still, they haven’t quite broken out nationally just yet. It’s almost a guarantee that will change this year as Solera’s mostly wood-aged beers (whether via wine barrel, puncheon, or foeder) are just the kind of sophisticated offerings that are a lightening rod for buzz. Once more people start getting their hands on bottles like Money Blend, the fame is sure to follow.

Aslin Beer Company

Image via Facebook/Aslin Beer Co.

Location: Herndon, VAOpened: 2015Specialty: Northeast IPAS

Aslin feels like a brewery that should already be nationally known. They’re located in the media hotbed of northern Virginia, and they produce exactly the kind of juicy IPAs that makes the geeks go gaga. The one thing holding them back? Their beers, like Master of Karate and Orange Starfish, were long only available on-tap. But that's no longer, as December saw Aslin beginning to bottle their beers in earnest. You have to imagine that should soon elevate their star in the beer stratosphere.

Foam Brewers

Image via Facebook/Foam Brewers

Location: Burlington, VTOpened: 2016Specialty: Farmhouse ales

It would seem nearly impossible for a brewery to exist under-the-radar in under-the-microscope brew haven, Vermont. Yet Foam still does, despite being located in Vermont’s largest city. Set on the Lake Champlain waterfront, Foam focuses mostly on IPAs (I know, shocker) and farmhouse ales. With stellar offerings like Built to Spill and the House of Fermentology series, it seems likely 2017 will be the year they’re added to the Hill Farmstead/The Alchemist/Lawson’s Finest grouping in Vermont cult-brewery discussions.

Great Notion

Image via Facebook/Great Notion Brewing

Location: Portland, OROpened: 2016Specialty beers: Northeast IPAs

Portland is arguably the country’s beer mecca with their 100+ breweries—the most of any city in the world. But at the same time, with so many breweries in town, it can be hard for any new one to break out nationally. That should change this year as Great Notion’s meteoric rise is becoming impossible to ignore. No surprise, they are one of Oregon’s only breweries to focus on the de rigueur Northeast-style IPAs, as well as barrel-aged offerings both sour and stouted. They can barely keep brews like Juice, Jr. and Juice Box in stock! That will become even more true as folks from the other 49 states begin clamoring for some.

Hudson Valley Brewery

Image via Facebook/Hudson Valley Brewery

Location: Beacon, NYOpened: 2017Specialty beers: Barrel-aged sours

You could easily include several Hudson Valley-area brewery on this list. Suarez Family Brewery almost immediately became a household name amongst the geeks when they opened last year. And with Industrial Arts being helmed by industry veteran Jeff “Chief” O’Neil, you know they too are destined for greatness. But Hudson Valley Brewery is still a bit off the radar (even if they had my #1 beer of 2016). With the brewery and tasting room set to open any day now—and an onslaught of barrel-aged sours and canned hoppy beers soon to come—the national radar will be homing in on them shortly.

Interboro Spirits & Ale

Is it possible for anything in Brooklyn to be underrated? Apparently, as it’s somewhat remarkable Interboro hasn’t broken out nationally just yet, considering its esteemed brewing pedigree (Jesse Ferguson, former head brewer at Carton) and stellar four-ingredient offerings so far like Premiere and Ambassador. By the end of last year, I wasn���t even bothering try to score cans of Other Half or Grimm IPAs, which would have had me standing in long lines or scrambling around town. Interboro’s hoppy canned offering was easier to nab, and just as tasty. Bonus: They’re also distilling gins and whiskeys.

Sand City Brewing Co.

Image via Facebook/Sand City Brewing Co.

Location: Northport, NYOpened: 2015Specialty: Canned IPAs

Long Island has long been the redheaded stepchild of metro-area brewing, but that has started to change with the emergence of these guys out of Northport. 2016 was the year every dude you know from Lawn Guyland began pimping for them; 2017 will be the year everyone agrees, “You know, Mario was right!” The brewery has been canning i’s mostly hoppy offerings, like Fade to Jade, for the last few months, and now they’re starting to add stouts to the mix.

WeldWerks Brewing

Image via Facebook/WeldWerks Brewing

Location: Greeley, COOpened: 2015Specialty: Northeast IPAs

Like Portland, the greater Denver area is such a hotbed of brewing activity it can be hard for a new spot to make its mark. WeldWerks has improbably been able to do just that, thanks to the Northeast-style IPAs they offer. Juicy Bits is that beer’s name, but it’s not their only great brew. In 2017 expect to see a lot of clamoring for their Medianoche series of imperial stouts, which have seen variants made with coffee, coconut, maple syrup, and even s’mores.

Wolves & People Farmhouse Brewery

A project that’s been in the works since at least 2014, Wolves & People didn’t quite explode onto the scene upon opening last year. That’s a bit of a surprise, as the Oregon farmhouse brewery has the bonafides of a former Jester King brewer, the ambition to brew mostly experimental wild ales, and the muscle of the Shelton Bros. (the distributors behind many of the world’s buzziest beers). Their “ancient beers in modern styles” like Sebastian Rhubarb and La Truffe, a white truffle stout, seem destined to become breakout stars this year. Or maybe I’m just predicting big things for them because W&P is the brainchild of fellow beer writer Christian de Benedetti.

3 Sons Brewing Co.

Image via Facebook/3 Sons Brewing

Location: Dania Beach, FLOpened: TBDSpecialty: Adjunct stouts

3 Sons Brewing is already slobbered over by the kinds of uber-geeks who attend bottle shares and the nerdiest of beer festivals—which is funny, because most of the people doing the slobbering haven’t even tried a single beer from Cory Artanis’s outfit. That’s because it isn’t even a commercial brewery just yet. Still, Artanis’s small-batch gypsy brews, like Summation and his Peg’s Cantina collaboration Rare Scooop, have received much notoriety from the few lucky folks enough to taste them. The desire for him to finally open his brewery’s doors is immense. Hopefully, that day will come in 2017.

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